Please Support A Gathering of the Tribes 2020

$2,325

For nearly 30 years, Tribes has supported traditionally under-represented artists and writers of diversity and excellence.

Re-launching nonprofit arts programming during the time of COVID-19 will be challenging, but we can do it with your support.

Artists and writers have felt the fallout from this crisis.

At least 50% of funding raised from this campaign will be distributed to working writers via stipends and commissions to support new creative work.

Founded by Steve Cannon in 1993, A Gathering of the Tribes (Tribes) is a non-profit, multicultural, inter-disciplinary arts organization, that began as a salon-style art gallery, literaty magazine and small press.

Now, Tribes is moving into a new era, continuing to support supprt diverse authors and artists across disciplines through our online literary magazine (tribes.org), our small press (Fly by Night Press), our semi-annual annual literary journal (Tribes Magazine) and by hosting literary and performance events.

Tribes provided many artists and writers who later went on to outstanding achievements in the arts, their proverbial “first break,” by publishing, showcasing and widely publicizing their work, and connecting them to vital resources and new creative opportunities.

Our founder, Steve Cannon believed deeply in multiculturalism and provided a space for artists and writers of color, immigrants, women, LGBTQ people, and people from diverse class backgrounds to come together, bonded by a singular passion; love of the arts.

Tribes Programs 2020 and Beyond:

-Tribes Magazine Online will resume publication of poetry, fiction, and essays, literary and art reviews by diverse authors very soon.

- Tribes readings and events provide a platform for, and promote traditionally under-represented authors of diversity, pairing emerging with established authors, providing a platform for new authors to reach a more extensive audience. (Beginning in May, Tribes will host a Spotlight series, featuring select authors through virtual readings and talk-backs.)

- Fly by Night Press, a subsidiary of A Gathering of the Tribes, publishes one to two books of poetry, fiction and creative nonfiction by emerging authors of diversity and excellence. each year For many authors, especially traditionally under-represented authors, the publication and promotion of a first book plays a pivotal role in launching a more sustainable career in the arts.

Fly by Night Press, has repeatedly published debut books by previously unknown and emerging authors who have gone on achieve to great artistic accomplishments, including: Carl Hancock Rux, Tish Benson, Sheila Maldonado, Star Black, and many others. Fly by night press published now Executive Director, Chavisa Woods’ debut book in 2009.

(Publications through Fly by Night Press are currently on hold, as we work to secure funding for this program. We the right support, we can resume book publications in 2021.)

- Tribes Online Gallery: Within the next six months, with appropriate funding, Tribes will launch on online gallery featuring work from a rotating roster of diverse visual artists.

Your Much-Needed Funding Will be Put Toward:

- Redesigning Tribes website so that we can do so much more with Tribes Magazine Online than we are able to do now.

- - Stipends authors for readings, as well as for commissioned new work: Your donations will go to supporting numerous diverse, contemporary authors, ensuring they have the incentive they need to continue creating!

- Tribes Magazine Online program costs including ongoing site maintenance and publications

- Subscriptions to virtual hosting platforms like Zoom, so that Tribes can host virtual readings and events during the current lockdown

Tribes’ founder and Executive Director of nearly 30 years, Steve Cannon, passed away in the summer of 2019. His loss has been deeply felt throughout the expansive community of artists, writers and activists he brought together through A Gathering of the Tribes.

As of May 1st, 2020, I, Chavisa Woods, Steve Cannon’s mentee and longtime friend, will be stepping into the position of Executive Director of A Gathering of the Tribes.

My goal over the coming year is to reestablish some of Tribes’ most impactful programs (which have not been active since Steve's illness and subsequent passing) and also work to ensure Steve Cannon’s life and legacy is properly memorialized.

We’ve already begun. Currently, Tribes’ materials and publications are being archived at the NYU Fales Library and Special Collections archives. Steve Cannon’s iconic piano is on permanent display at the Schomburg Center.

I cannot thank everyone enough for the love and support that has poured out for Steve Cannon and Tribes since his passing last July. I hope that you will remain part of Tribes’ community as we continue to support artists and writers of diversity and excellence for years to come.

Known as “The Professor,” and “The Blind Guy,” and the downtown poetry scene’s greatest heckler, there was simply no one else like Steve Cannon. He had a gift for connecting people across differences, which resulted in new, powerful artistic alliances and a more mutually supportive and diverse community of artists.

Through Tribes, he supported artists who may have otherwise been overlooked by mainstream institutions. He provided many artists and writers who later went on to outstanding achievements in the arts with their proverbial “first break,” widely publicized their work, and connected them to vital resources and new creative opportunities. He believed deeply in multiculturalism and provided a space for artist and writers of color, immigrants, women, LGBTQ people, and people from diverse class backgrounds to come together, bonded by a singular passion; love of creativity. He provided an open space for rigorous intellectual debate, and at the same time, rigorous play, the combination of which is the lifeblood of the arts.

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